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Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa of Brentford celebrate at the end of the Premier League match between Brentford FC and Ipswich Town FC at Gtech Community Stadium(Image: Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)

Liverpool will be looking to extend a four-match winning run against Brentford when they travel to the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday.

The Reds won 2-0 against the Bees back in August in Arne Slot’s first competitive match in charge at Anfield.

That followed on from completing a first Premier League double over the Londoners in Jurgen Klopp’s final season, recording a 3-0 home win with a first away victory at the Gtech Community Stadium as they ran out 4-1 victors last February.

Meanwhile, they also claimed a narrow 1-0 win over the Bees to start such a run back in May 2023.

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But Brentford have at times proven to be tricky customers for Liverpool since winning promotion to the Premier League back in 2021.

They held the Reds to a 3-3 draw in September 2021 in their first meeting at in west London, before thrashing them 3-1 at home in January 2023.

While Klopp’s side might have clinched a comfortable away victory over the Bees last season, they remain the most formidable opponent in front of their own fans.

Brentford have won the joint-most home matches (seven) in the Premier League this season, along with Liverpool and Arsenal.

Thomas Frank’s side are admittedly currently on a four-game winless run at home in front of their own fans, having 2-0 to Nottingham Forest, 3-1 to Arsenal and 1-0 to Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup before Tuesday’s 2-2 draw with Man City.

Also his 12th of the season from just 22 matches, he has already equalled his best ever haul for a top-flight campaign.

Liverpool have been left cursing the DR Congo international twice in the past, with him scoring a late equaliser against the Reds in their 3-3 draw in September 2021, before doubling Brentford's lead in their 3-1 win in January 2023.

Consequently, they are one of the forward’s favoured Premier League opponents.

Ian Graham, Liverpool’s former director of research, admits things could have been different.

“At Liverpool we admired both Brentford and Brighton’s signings, though we never told them that,” he wrote in his book, ‘How to Win the Premier League: The Inside Story of Football's Data Revolution.’

“Me and my colleague Daf Steele used to keep lists of players who looked outstanding in their domestic leagues but were either not quite good enough for Liverpool or played in a style that didn’t fit ours.

“The centre-backs Pontus Jansson at Leeds and Zanka at Copenhagen rated as Premier League standard players, but weren’t really suited to playing in Liverpool’s high-line.

Luis Diaz signed in a £49m deal from FC Porto the following January, before Liverpool made Darwin Nunez their club-record signing in a switch worth up to £85m from Benfica in June 2022.

Fabio Carvalho signed the same month from Fulham for an initial £5m fee, and has since been sold to Brentford for £27.5m, before Cody Gakpo arrived in a £45m switch from PSV Eindhoven in January 2023.

Meanwhile, the Reds signed Federico Chiesa for an initial £10m fee from Juventus last summer.

Spending up to a combined £179m on Diaz, Nunez and Gakpo, the trio have scored 36, 37 and 35 goals respectively for Liverpool since joining the club compared to Wissa’s 41 goals for Brentford.

We will never know how the Congolese would have fared at a higher platform had the Reds looked to sign him in the past, with the opportunity arguably now passing him by.

And while the Brentford forward - on track to enjoy the most prolific season of his career - will be looking to torment Liverpool once again on Saturday, the Reds can still be satisfied with their shopping from ‘more expensive markets’ instead.

After all, it is hardly a bad thing that Klopp helped them quickly outgrow such signings when leading the club to Premier League and Champions League glory.


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